Thank so much for your feedback Shadow 1000, I really appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed summation of your playthrough!

I'm glad that you enjoyed the game, and am really pleased with the level of difficulty you describe, that's exactly what I was shooting for so that's awesome. I'm also glad you found the length to be about right, I didn't want the game to outstay its welcome or be artificially inflated.

- The voice acting is the game is quite minimal, it's really only a series of different noises/grunts etc when you perform certain actions. For example, when you try to push the boulder, or if you try to talk to some of the animals, such as the Wolf (featured in the trailer). There are a few more instances but I won't list them here for fear of spoilers. Don't worry, you didn't miss any set up. There is no spoken dialogue, as I wanted to follow the 'mute boy' format of Limbo and Inside by Playdead. I appreciate that voice acting is a bit of a stretch as a description, maybe I should have called this Sound Effects or Samples instead.

- With regard to the ending

Add spoiler tag for Hidden:

(again without any spoilers), I wanted to leave it deliberately ambiguous. Once again, this is a nod to Limbo and Inside by Playdead, as I wanted to give the player the opportunity to make up their own mind as to what the world and set-up means. I've always found this to be really compelling and powerful. However, if you find all 3 secrets in the game, and you don't die at all, you will see a very short cutscene which hints strongly at the true meaning of the game. I was hoping this would encourage replayability, but maybe I have set the bar a little too high in accessing this.

- There are layers of meaning in the game (beyond the boy in the forest), which are also hinted at when you discover the secrets in the game. These are also quite ambiguous and cryptic, but they do point towards the larger story which is hinted at when you receive a 5 star rating. There will be hints dropped about these secrets on the neat fire games facebook page in the coming few days, so if you get a chance maybe have another play armed with these hints! (These hints are also listed on the walkthrough, which is available for download.)

Journey Home is an old-school point and click adventure game with a modern twist.The game features multiple endings, death sequences, secrets, optional puzzle strands and much more.It will take most players around 1 hour to complete.

Game DevelopmentMy goal was to make something that I could be proud of and to hone my skills in every aspect of video game development.The game took around one and a half years to make, in my spare time. I have dabbled with AGS in the past, but this is my first completed project.I feel that I have a much stronger understanding of the program now and can't wait to bring this knowledge to bear on new projects in the future.

The StoryA sharp clap of thunder jolts you awake.You find yourself cold and alone in a dark forest clearing.You have no memory of who you are or what you're doing here.You just know that you need to make it to the distant light that you recognise as home.

But the forest is not going to make it easy...

And you might just find that there's more to this strange pilgrimage than meets the eye...

Yeah it was a very deliberate choice, I wanted to create a tension between the visuals and the feel of the game. It also reflects my key influences, in that I wanted to create a game that was a sort of mash-up between Limbo and The Curse of Monkey Island. Strange I know, but that was my jumping off point! I hope you like the game.